If you've been waiting for that Daniel Clowes and Michel Gondry, perfectly-matched collaboration for Rudy Rucker's Master of Space and Time, take a deep breath -- it looks like that project might be biting the dust. However, that doesn't mean we won't see Gondry tackle some other spacey material. He has told MTV that he is going to tackle his first animated film, as a collaboration with his son, Paul. And this is the point where people either "awh" at the sweetness, or recoil in fear with memories of Robert Rodriguez's familial fare and say: "No! Did he not see The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl?!"

While Rodriguez's attempt didn't come off as well as filmgoers hoped, I'm still taken with this idea. Gondry told MTV that the film is "going to be quite amazing," and continued: "We're translating our relationship into a futuristic story with a dictator and a rebel. He's the dictator in the story [and] it will be based on [his] art." They are not only collaborating on the story itself, but Paul will co-direct the movie with him. Paul is now 16, so this will be more of an adult collaboration, which should also help things. I think it will be cool to see what the Gondrys create together -- besides, we're talking about the guy who re-sassed the Rubik's Cube. I have faith. But this is just my opinion -- what do you think?

Okay, is this not one of the coolest posters you've seen all year? I simply love the color scheme for this film, and since I'm seeing it tomorrow -- and interviewing writer-directors Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi on Friday -- this poster just totally puts me in the mood for, what some are calling, a shoe-in for an Oscar nod in the Best Foreign Language category. Persepolis, which won the Jury prize at Cannes earlier this year (where our own James Rocchi called it a "masterpiece"), was France's Oscar submission, and rightfully so -- those of us in the Cinematical camp that have seen it will not stop raving. Sony Pictures Classics has sent over the exclusive poster for Persepolis (click on the image for a larger version), which is based on Satrapi's own autobiographical best-selling graphic novels featuring an outspoken Iranian girl who finds her unique attitude and outlook on life repeatedly challenged during the Islamic revolution.

In her Telluride review of the film, Cinematical's Kim Voynar had this to say: "Marjane's story could have been told in a live-action dramatic narrative film, or a documentary, but the choice to stick with this highly stylized animation approach works very well, and has the effect of removing a layer of ethnicity, thereby making the story more universal. This isn't the story of an Iranian girl, it's the story of a girl who lived through eight years of war and societal changes, who happens to be Iranian." Apart from also screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, Persepolis was chosen as the closing night film for this year's New York Film Festival. The film arrives in theaters on Christmas Day.

So if you needed some final, indisputable proof that somebody out there thinks a Thundercats movie is a great idea, here it is: Warner Bros. has hired a director. First-timer Jerry O'Flaherty will be bringing the ol' Cats into the multiplexes through the magic of CG-laced nostalgia. (I'm guessing it'll look and sound a whole lot like the slick and forgettable TMNT from earlier this year.)

Although he hasn't directed any features, O'Flaherty is a long-time veteran in the field of video game animation. And isn't it really all the same stuff nowadays? The screenplay will come from a guy called Paul Sopocy, who has one thing in common with his new director: Thundercats will mark his first feature film. According to Variety, "the origin story expands on the major heroes and villains from the animated series, with the plot focusing on Lion-O coming of age as the leader of the Thundercats."

And just in case you need a quick refresher course on the long and storied history of the Thundercats, here are two more sentences: "The property revolves around a group of humanoid cats who must flee the planet of Thundera, which is destroyed. Once crash-landing on another planet, Third Earth, they must thwart Mumm-Ra, an evil sorcerer bent on killing them off." Yeah, I remember this cartoon. Trippy-colored cat-people super-heroes and a maniacal mummy sorcerer who really hates them feline freaks. I distinctly remember a very annoying sidekick....

After wallowing in production limbo for the last ten years, Empire Online reports that Pixar has finally decided to make not one, but three films about John Carter of Mars by Tarzan creator, Edgar Rice Burroughs. The latest news about the project emerged when Pixar's creative team made a visit to the Burroughs's archives. Pixar's team was comprised of Jim Morris (VP), Andrew Stanton (director), and Mark Andrews (script). Carter was "a Civil War veteran whose retreat into a cave to avoid capture by Apache Indians takes an otherworldly turn as he's transported via time portal to the planet of Barsoom (aka Mars) and taken prisoner by 12-foot-tall green men". First appearing in Princess of Mars back in 1917, the character appeared in over seven novels, so there is plenty of material for the trilogy. According to reports, "All six members at the meeting expressed a deep commitment to the project, acknowledging that they had been inspired by Burroughs' creations from a very early age. This is evidenced in the excitement held for the John Carter property and the plans for a film trilogy faithful to the Burroughs books".

Rights to Carter were finalized back in January for Pixar and Disney. Reportedly, the project has been around since the 90's when Jeffrey Katzenberg had designs on a feature film version while he was still head of Disney. After that, the project made the rounds to Paramount and has had some big names attached to direct over the years, including Robert Rodriguez and Jon Favreau. There is still talk that Pixar will finally be getting into the live-action game with Brad Bird's telling of the San Francisco earthquake, 1906. But, there is plenty of time since they aren't exactly in a rush to get Carter into production. The first film will hit screens sometime in 2012. Talk about planning ahead ...

(Click on the image above to head straight to Cinematical's Fantastic Fest 2007 photo gallery)

I just spent the last seven days at the 3rd annual Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas ... and I think I need to start seeing a therapist. There's just no freakin' way that a person should be able to call this "work." But let's be honest: I'm lucky enough to attend festivals like Sundance, Toronto and SXSW -- and I do work my ass off during those weeks. But the Alamo Drafthouse's Fantastic Fest is more of a ... working vacation. Yeah, that's it.

How to explain the ceaseless deluge of movie-geek fun that was had at this year's event ... I have no idea. I suppose we could start with the people:

Fantastic Fest is the pulsating brainchild of Alamo Capo Tim League and his crack(-smoking) staff of hardcore movie geeks. Were it not for the passion, the knowledge, and the non-stop nerdiness of Zach Carlson, Lars Nilssen, Keir-La Janisse, Henri Mazza and the wonderful Karrie League, Fantastic Fest would be more like Mildly Diverting Fest. (And that's just not worth a trip across the country.) The Alamofos also have a stellar programming crew that includes the likes of Harry Knowles, Matt Dentler, Blake Ethridge, Todd Brown, and a small handful of people I'm forgetting right now but will definitely add in later once the emails start rolling in. But the bottom line is this: Call it a genre fest or call it a "geek mecca," but I can assure you that Fantastic Fest is programmed by grade-A, die-hard, 6-movie-a-day maniacs. Everything else is just gravy.

Welcome to The (Mostly) Indie Film Calendar, a weekly look at what's happening beyond the multiplexes all around North America. If you know of something indie-related happening near you -- a local festival, a series of classic restored films, lectures, workshops, etc. -- send the info to me at Eric.Snider(at)weblogsinc(dot)com and I'll add it to the list. (Please put "Cinematical" somewhere in the subject line so I can separate you from all the effing spam I get.)

First, a few indie films are opening theatrically today, all of them noteworthy in some way:

• My Kid Could Paint That, a documentary about a 4-year-old modern artist and the controversies surrounding her work, sold for nearly $2 million after it premiered at Sundance. Cinematical's Scott Weinberg reviewed it then and said it "gets exponentially more entertaining as each successive question and contradiction is offered." (L.A., NYC)

• Finishing the Game is a mockumentary from Justin Lin (whose first film, Better Luck Tomorrow, was much better than his subsequent films, Annapolis and The Fast the Furious: The One That for Some Reason Took Place in Tokyo) about an attempt to finish the movie Bruce Lee was working on when he died. Scott Weinberg saw this one at Sundance, too, and called it a "confident and consistently amusing comedy." (NYC)

• The Good Night is the first film by Jake Paltrow (Gwyneth's brother), a dramedy about a songwriter's midlife crisis involving a beautiful woman he sees only in his dreams. This was yet another Sundance premiere; Kim Voynar reviewed it there and said it has a clever script and solid performances, but has some pacing issues. (NYC)

• Lake of Fire, a documentary about the abortion battle in the U.S., is Tony Kaye's first film to hit theaters since American History X. Ryan Stewart posted a mixed review on Wednesday. (NYC)

• Kurt Cobain: About a Son uses 25 hours of previously unreleased tapes of Cobain interviews to construct a documentary of his life. (L.A. and NYC now; Seattle Oct. 12; Philadelphia Oct. 19; further dates here.)

After the jump, festivals and events in Chicago, Portland, New Jersey, L.A, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, and Arizona....

If you aren't familiar with the characters Wallace and Gromit, this is the perfect month to get acquainted. The claymation duo's Oscar-winning feature debut, Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, is one of the best Halloween-time movies for the whole family. After watching that -- and laughing your tail off -- you need to check out animator Nick Park's other W&G films. There's three shorts, titled A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, all of which were nominated for the Academy Award (the latter two won -- the first actually only lost out to another brilliant short by Park, Creature Comforts). Then, you'll be all caught up and all set to wait until the next loony adventure, which has just been announced to be coming in Christmas 2008. According to BBC News, the new film will be another short, will be co-written by Bob Baker and will be titled Trouble At' Mill.

In Trouble, Wallace and his faithful, silent sidekick (pet isn't quite right for Gromit) have yet another inventive business. This time, it's a bakery, fully equipped with mechanical arms that knead the dough. And like in past films, there's a mystery to be solved, this one involving twelve bakers who have disappeared (will Wallace end up completing the baker's dozen?). Also, Wallace has another new love interest, who can be seen in sketches and a model care of the BBC here. Back in February, when we heard about another W&G project in the works, I had hoped it would be another feature. Then, two months later, when Aardman Animation struck a new distribution deal with Sony, I kept on hoping. Finally, in June, Aardman/Sony announced four new projects, one of which was said to be from Park!

But with this new announcement Park told the BBC that while he'd like to make another feature-length film, they take so long and Hollywood involves so much pressure. He also said that he's doing this one strictly for himself and the fans. Hey, I'm glad to have anything featuring the pair, just as long as I do get to see it. Trouble At' Mill, which begins filming in January, is set to premiere exclusively on BBC One next Christmas, but hopefully it will get a quick television or DVD release in the States soon after.

If you saw the first Wall-E teaser trailer, you won't be missing anything by not watching the new trailer. At least, you won't miss anything that will be in the actual movie. However, the new teaser features a fresh sequence involving Wall-E's interaction with the Pixar logo. It's cute, it's funny and it makes you want to give hugs to a lamp and a robot, which is pretty silly but nonetheless the undeniable case. I've always had a thing for retooled logos involving the movie it accompanies (for example Ralph Wiggum singing along to the 20th Century Fox fanfare before The Simpsons Movie), and I've always had a thing for that little Pixar lamp ever since I saw that first animated short, and so obviously I absolutely love this clip. The rest of the trailer, well, that's kinda boring, but only because we've pretty much already seen it before.

Sure, the title character of Wall-E looks like a cross between E.T. and Johnny 5, but who cares? I don't know about you, but I love E.T., and Johnny 5 is also pretty cool when Ally Sheedy isn't around. So, what's the problem? Personally, I'm really looking forward to this next Pixar movie, especially after reading that director Andrew Stanton considers it to be like "R2-D2: The Movie," because it doesn't really feature any dialogue. Basically it's going to be a beautiful, computer-animated silent film. Despite my intense hatred for Cars, I have faith that Pixar will keep on producing brilliant family entertainment, and when Wall-E opens next summer, you can bet I'll be seeing it. Am I really the only who can't wait? It sure feels that way.

Fans of the classic anime Astro Boy were probably relieved when Mark had reported last year that the new feature film would not be headed for a 'Hollywood' update. Instead, it was going to take a strictly 'classic' approach to creating an animated feature film -- albeit one with the latest technology. Latino Review has posted an early glimpse at the poster for the flick. I'll admit; I don't know much about Astro Boy (although I always did dig his groovy red 'Rocket Boots') but the eye catching one-sheet does command your attention whether you're a fan or not. Simple, and straight to the point -- which isn't necessarily an easy trick to pull off. The last anyone had heard from the film was in 2006 -- until last week, when IGN reported that Warner Brothers and The Weinstein Company had joined forces with Japan's ImagiAnimation Studios to distribute the film.

Originally broadcast on Japanese television in 1963, the story of Astro Boy is a relatively simple one. Astro Boy (aka Mighty Atom) is a cyborg who was abandoned by his creator and eventually taken in by a kindly professor. Atom then puts his super strength and skills to good use fighting crime and injustice -- usually battling other cyborgs or a variety of other kinds of technology gone awry. Plans for a feature film version have been kicked around since 2001, but it wasn't until last fall that Colin Brady was finally attached to direct. Brady has made a career in visual effects and animation, and Astro Boy will mark his second directorial effort (his first was Everybody's Hero, although he was uncredited). Astro Boy is scheduled for release in 2009.

I'm still not sold on this performance-capture stuff (Beowulf looks terrible), but leave it to Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and a little adventuring character named Tintin to change my mind ... hopefully. Dreamworks and producer Kathleen Kennedy (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial) are busy working on their 3-D animated trilogy based on Georges "Herge" Remi's iconic Belgian reporter character, and I'm really hoping they get it right. Although they haven't yet found a third filmmaker to helm the installment not being directed by Spielberg or Jackson, they have hired a screenwriter. According to The Hollywood Reporter, British television vet Steven Moffat will script all three parts. The guy has written for series' as diverse as Coupling, Doctor Who and this past summer's Jekyll. Is he ready to tackle such a big-deal project?

Personally, I'm not worried about the scripts for the Tintin movies. Herge was such a great storyteller that I can't imagine it would be difficult to adapt his work. What I'm more worried about is how the film will look. From what we've heard so far, they're attempting something that looks realistic (or live-action) while still retaining the look of Herge's drawings (which are cartoons). Sure, I want to be able to trust Spielberg and Jackson (as Scott mentioned awhile back: if you can't trust them, who can you trust?), but then I haven't seen any performance-capture work that I've been satisfied with -- at least not anything that encompassed an entire film and all of its characters. Will it be more like Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, which looks too much like a video game, or will it be more like Jackson's work with Andy Serkis in both his Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong? Or will it be something totally new, unlike anything we've ever seen? All I have to say is that I hope Zemeckis isn't the third director hired.

During an advanced screening of the upcoming Disney movie Enchanted, it appears Dick Cook, the Chairman of Walt Disney Pictures, let slip some news that wasn't supposed to be out there for at least another month. According to AICN, via someone who attended said Enchanted screening, Cook announced during the Q&A that Disney is prepping a stop-motion feature to be directed by "the creative mastermind behind the majority of stop-motion pictures in the last decade." It shouldn't take a genius to figure out the person he's talking about: Tim Burton. So once this news was out there, folks immediately began speculating as to which film Burton would be directing for Disney. That's when another person emailed AICN with the following: "It's a feature length remake of his short "Frankenweenie." All stop motion. Leave me completely anonymous, please."

For those who do not know what a Frankenweenie is, it's one of Burton's earlier short films (from 1984), and originally Disney was going to release the short. However, some claim the content was a bit too "questionable" for children, and the release plan was subsequently shelved. Eventually, the short showed up as an extra feature on the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD. Did Disney ask Burton to re-tool the film so that it would be more family-friendly, and give him the go-ahead to start planning a feature? It certainly seems logical, but do keep in mind these are all rumors as of now (and Disney seems to be going out of their way not to comment). Based on Mary Shelley's classic, Frankenstein, Frankenweenie follows a boy whose dog is hit and killed by a car. C'mon, you should be able to figure out the rest -- he brings dog back to life, people freak out, blah blah. Has anyone watched the original short? Would you be interested in seeing Burton bring it to the big screen in feature form? Chime in below ...

The story of Noah and the flood will be told a million more times in some medium or other. But following the disappointment of Evan Almighty, it seems a little soon for a new movie version. Sure, Evan wasn't exactly a strict adaptation of the Bible tale, but it was based enough on it to make audiences not so hungry for another Ark adventure. Yet, according to Variety, Unified Pictures (Don't Move) has announced plans to do a computer-animated Noah's Ark, which will be scripted by Philip LaZebnik, who has worked on Dreamworks' Biblical kids film The Prince of Egypt and Disney's Pocahontas and Mulan. Religious films, whether live-action or animated, can be hit or miss, but like Evan Almighty, this new project is not a straightforward telling of Noah and the flood; instead it will focus on the story from the point of view of the animals.

Personally, I love the idea. But I'd love it much better if it was coming from Nick Park and Aardman Animation. It would be like Creature Comforts ... on a boat. The connection between Unified and Park exists: the indie studio has worked many times with Northern Arts Entertainment, which distributed a lot of Aardman shorts, including Park's Wallace and Gromit films. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like that dream will happen. Unified seems pretty set on making a CG pic that resembles those made by the big studios. The best way of doing that, of course, is to get some familiar comedic voices involved. If this pic is more successful than Evan Almighty, perhaps we'll then get to see a greenlight on Darren Aronofsky's own Noah's Ark movie, which he's been interested in doing since he was 13.

Personally, I would've loved Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie to have been live action, in crazy costumes, like the spoof trailers we previously shared with you. There's nothing quite like Chris Rock and Seinfeld battling the elements on a fake windshield. That being said, I have to agree with Erik Davis -- the animated version looks pretty damned spiffy. The movie finally comes out on November 2, and Seinfeld has been making his rounds to promote the flick. The Globe and Mail has reported that just the other day, he was in Toronto for a red carpet event for the movie, and talked with the audience about the making of the film.

During the screening, he did some stand-up, chatted about families, and also about the bee crisis: "Since we started writing this four years ago, there has been a bee crisis. Have you heard of this? Colony collapse disorder. Bees have suddenly stopped working, following the exact plot line of the movie. It freaks me out. What we were writing about actually happening. I have to be more careful about what we write." Somehow, I don't think they're following the exact plot, unless there's a lawsuit I'm missing.

Bee Movie is about a bee named Barry who has just graduated from college, which is pretty redundant since he has one career choice: making honey. He leaves the hive and befriends a human named Vanessa (Renee Zellweger). While on a shopping trip with her, he discovers the world of packaged honey -- Ray Liotta's brand of honey, to be exact -- and decides to sue humans. What happens after that? Well, you'll have to see the movie.

When you're dealing with a lovable robot, aimed to woo kids and adults alike, you might as well tug on the hearts of nostalgia as well. Pixar's upcoming robot movie, Wall•E ("Wally") has now got a teaser poster, which Upcoming Pixar has shared. Does it look familiar? There's definitely a little Short Circuit going on there, and something else, which I can't, for the life of me, think of right now. But aside from just the look of the new teaser poster, there's also Wall•E himself, who looks like a smushed version of Number 5.

According to the teaser trailer, which is mostly exposition with only a little peek at the robot, the idea came together during a brainstorming session years ago, when the creators came up with A Bug's Life, Monster's Inc., and Finding Nemo. (They best get brainstorming again if this is their last!) So, it seems this little flick is about a robot who has been working for many years, but discovers his true calling much later in his metal life. Considering the fact that this is a robot romance, and he meets a cute robot named Eve, do they learn how to get it on and make robot babies -- the next form of evolution? Who knows? Whatever the case might be, we'll find out next year. Wall•E is scheduled to hit theaters on June 27, 2008.

There are many iconic pairings of actor and director: DeNiro and Scorsese; Bogart and Huston; Mifune and Kurosawa; Depp and Burton. One of the best recurring collaborations, though, is Bill Murray and Wes Anderson. The comedic actor appears in almost all of Anderson's movies (maybe one day he can be digitally imposed into Bottle Rocket a la Jabba in Star Wars), including The Darjeeling Limited, which opens tomorrow. I haven't seen the new movie yet, but I did read a great piece about Anderson in this week's New York magazine, and I have to say that Murray and Anderson were made for each other. Whether it is true or not that the filmmaker really had to deliver a suitcase with $14,000 in cash from Murray to a guy named Luigi is beside the point; the story just proves the duo have a fun sense of humor that can involve the other at any given time.

That's why it isn't surprising to learn that Murray will be voicing a character in Anderson's stop-motion-animated film, The Fantastic Mr. Fox (and I don't mean because Murray would avail his voice to anything). MTV Movies Blog chatted with Anderson about the film, which is still a few years in the making, and got other confirmations on its cast of voices. Yes, George Clooney is definitely on board as "Mr. Fox", and also Jason Schwartzman is doing a voice, too. There is no mention, however, of Cate Blanchett or Angelica Huston, both of whom are said to be part of the film. It also wasn't revealed which characters Murray and Schwartzman would be doing. The Fantastic Mr. Fox will be Murray and Anderson's fifth movie together (and Schwartzman's fourth with the director, if you count shorts), and will likely be far from the last. The film also reunites Anderson with his Life Aquatic co-writer Noah Baumbach; the script is based on the book by Roald Dahl.